On Thursday, Pakistani Foreign Office officials expressed their surprise at Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin’s comments that Afghanistan would approach Taliban peace talks alone. Officials went on to call the Afghan cancellation of the visit of an eleven-person delegation from the Afghan National Army (ANA) scheduled to attend an exercise in Quetta as an “over reaction to a local problem.” Afghan forces canceled the visit after Pakistani soldiers reportedly fired nearly fifty rockets across the border into Kunar province, Afghanistan, on Monday and Tuesday. Pakistani officials said they had not even received an official state-level complaint, and had heard about the Afghan reaction through the media.[1]

Militancy

On Thursday, NATO forces under International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) command killed over 25 Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in an operation in Lakhai, Afghanistan, just across the border from Chagai, Balochistan. An unknown but significant number of people were wounded in the battle. “Most of the dead Taliban belonged to Quetta, Naushki, Chagai, Kuchlak, Pishin and adjoining areas.”[2]

On Wednesday, the Ministry of the Interior issued a nation-wide terrorist threat for the duration of elections. The threat came after members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and ministry officials met and determined that the TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) are planning to attack election targets in Balochistan, Nushki, and Quetta. The Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) is planning improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Dera Bugti, Naseerabad and Jaffarabad, and an LeJ commander is planning further attacks in Islamabad. [3]

On Thursday, unknown gunmen shot and killed a man in his house in Sohrab Goth, Karachi. His wife is missing as of the attack. In an unrelated incident, Karachi police found the body of a woman in Faisal Town, bearing signs of torture. [7]